Ezra 3-5
What I Noticed Today (Ezra 3-5)
Ezra 3-6
The rebuilding of the temple.
Ezra 3
In verses 1-7, in the seventh month after their return, the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.
- Jeshua, the priest, along with other priests, built an altar to God and began offering sacrifices according to the instructions in the Law given to Moses.
- They celebrated the Festival of Booths.
- They offered daily and monthly sacrifices as prescribed by the Law.
- They began to offer burnt sacrifices to the Lord.
- They paid stonecutters and artisans and gave food, drink, and oil to the people of Tyre and Sidon to bring cedar from Lebanon.
In verses 8-9, in the second month of the second year (536 B.C., 70 years after the first deportation in 605 B.C.) Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the Levites and priests came together to begin the process of rebuilding the temple.
In verses 10-13, when the foundation of the temple of the Lord had been laid the singers, and the people came forward singing praises to the Lord.
- The older people who had seen the first temple cried, but the younger people shouted with joy.
Ezra 4
In verses 1-5, when enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that they were rebuilding the temple, they offered to help.
Note: The people in the area claimed to worship the Lord, and they may have, but they also worshiped other gods.
- Zerubbabel rejected their help saying the temple must be completed by those who had returned from exile.
- Being rejected, the people tried to bribe officials and interfere with the building of the temple throughout the time of Cyrus, king of Persia.
In verses 6-16, the people already in the land (the enemies described in verse 1) sent a letter to King Artaxerxes of Persia, claiming falsities about the Jews in an effort to get the king to stop the rebuilding.
Note: This section (vv. 6-23) is not in chronological order but demonstrates the opposition to the rebuilding of the temple. The opposition continued through the time of the reign of Xerxes and on to the reign of Artaxerxes. These letters were probably written some 80 years after the rebuilding of the temple began.
In verses 17-23, Artaxerxes replied with a letter calling for the building of the temple to stop until the matter could be investigated further.
- As soon as the letter was read to Rehum, Shimshai, and others, they went to Jerusalem and forced the people from rebuilding on the temple.
In verse 24, the construction of the temple stopped until Darius became king of Persia.
Note: The delay in rebuilding continued for approximately 15 years until the reign of Darius (520 B.C.). The gap (535 B.C. to 520 B.C.) is between the close of chapter 4 and the opening of chapter 5.
Ezra 5
In verses 1-5, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah prophesied to the Jews in Jerusalem, and Shealtiel and Jeshua started rebuilding the house of the Lord once again.
- Tattenai, the governor of the region, Shetharbozenai, and others confronted the Jews asking who gave them permission to rebuild the temple.
- Despite Tattenai’s interference, the people did not stop their work on the temple.
In verses 6-17, Tattenai sent a letter to Darius, the king of Persia advising him that the rebuilding had resumed and asked him to check the king’s records to verify if authorization to rebuild had been written by the former King Cyrus.
Some thoughts for additional consideration:
- What a great witness it is to see the people coming together united in purpose to rebuild the Lord’s house. The priests and Levites, who had neglected their duties in previous generations, were the first to step forward to build the altar and begin worshipping the Lord. This led the people also to worship the Lord.
- Despite the hardships and oppression, they came together in unified worship to God! They put the worship of God first, celebrated His goodness to them, and then began the process of building the foundation for the temple.
- As soon as they got started, they faced opposition from adversaries. But ultimately, God’s purpose was fulfilled, and the rebuilding continued. God’s purposes cannot be thwarted!
What did you notice in your study today? Feel free to visit the website and leave a question or a comment.